Jenni Rivera’s Estate Sues Over Fatal Plane Crash

Mexican-American singer and television star Jenni Rivera died on Dec. 9, 2012 in a plane crash. She was 43. (credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for LARAS)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The estate of Mexican-American superstar Jenni Rivera on Monday sued the owners of a Learjet that crashed two years ago, killing the singer and several members of her entourage.

The negligence case is against Starwood Management Inc., which owned the Learjet 25 jet that crashed in northern Mexico in December 2012 after plunging more than 28,000 feet. The case is also against the companies that serviced the aircraft, Bombardier Inc. and Learjet Inc.

Rivera’s company has been sued along with Starwood by relatives of those killed in the crash, including her attorney, hairstylist, publicist and makeup artist and one of the plane’s pilots. Attorneys are scheduled to update a judge Wednesday on the progress of settlement talks between Rivera’s company and the relatives.

A representative for Starwood could not be found. An attorney representing the company left the case earlier this year and has not been replaced.

An after-hours message left for Quebec-based Bombardier was not immediately returned.

Rivera, 43, was known as the “Diva de la Banda” and died as her career was peaking. She was perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated Mexico regional style, and had moved into acting and reality television.

Rivera had sold more than 15 million records over her career.

Rivera’s parents and five of her children, two of whom are still minors, are plaintiffs in the case. The suit seeks unspecified damages on their behalf.

Rivera’s widower, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Esteban Loaiza, also had sued Starwood for wrongful death. A request by his attorneys to dismiss the case was granted in late October, court records show. Loiaza’s suit contended the pilots flying Rivera and her entourage were not properly licensed for the flight and that the plane’s airframe was damaged in a 2005 accident.